When it comes to marketing and branding, the importance of social media simply cannot be ignored. The possibilities of how to reach your target audience are endless, and in today’s era, media is the key to being effective and efficient in your marketing strategy. Now that we recognized the importance of social media, running a DECA social media page can be broken down in three simple steps!
1) IDENTIFY YOUR GOALS AND AUDIENCE
Identifying your goals on social media is extremely important when you are trying to develop a personal, chapter, district, or even association social media page. Establishing a goal allows for a reference to track your monthly progress, and it helps to give you a purpose when developing each month’s material.
Setting your target audience is also a crucial aspect in this process. This allows you to personalize material each month to the trending interests of specific individuals; therefore increasing engagement numbers. The key to a successful social media page is keeping up with the latest tips and trends, so your page sparks an interest in whoever you are hoping to reach. By being relevant, you better your chances of a like, share or retweet. Recognizing what material works also increases your page efficiency, therefore eliminating wasted time publishing unsuccessful material.
TIP: People like to stay updated and in the loop, but that can sometimes be very hard to do, while still being engaging, so to make it easier fill your social media page with things that are made to update and inform in a creative format such as infographics, images or even video!
2) MONITOR AND MEASURE WHAT MATTERS
Social media is competitive and saturated, so it is essential for you to test and track your results in order to identify the most effective strategies against your competition– which is why social media analytics are so important. By using analytical tools such as Hootsuite, Google analytics, DrumUp to name a few, it allows you to track engagement numbers and isolate what material works for your page so you can continue with it.
Some key things to track on your social media page: Likes, shares, retweets, engagement levels, how often you post, and lastly follower responses (tags/comments) The purpose of your social media page is to promote your brand and share it with as many people as possible in hopes they find it engaging, so by tracking the success of each article or post, you are getting direct feedback from your target audience so you can make adjustments accordingly.
As a page, it should always be a priority to increase follower engagement. One way to increase the involvement and followers is to personalize the page a little bit. Establishing more of a family environment allows your followers to feel a little more comfortable and like they belong when you go that extra mile to personalize the account.
Reminder: Don’t forget each form of social media attracts a different audience! So be diligent and do your research on where the majority of your target market is located (The NewsCred infographic located below is a great resource for demographics on each application.) Because of this, do not be disappointed if success on one account receives more or less traffic/engagement than any of the others. However, do not let this information stop you from expanding your network onto another account. It is always beneficial to be present on all forms of social media.
3) HAVE FUN!
Your followers should always be a priority, but if you are not happy with the material you are posting, the truth is your audience probably is not satisfied either. Do not overwhelm your followers with repetitive and lengthy information. BE CREATIVE and remain consistent on all accounts! This is your opportunity to express what your business, organization, or your personal brand is all about! Relatable gifs, images, infographics, and pictures can be a great addition to your posts!
By implementing these three tips on your DECA social media page, one can almost guarantee your engagement and page awareness will increase! Social media is an ongoing and strenuous task that requires a lot of research, documentation, and preparation but do not let that scare you out of pursuing a better media presence. The more effort you put forth, the larger the reward.
BY: MADELYNE ONSTOTT
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